Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of Ireland in 1865. The alma mater of James Joyce, Pádraig Pearse and Éamon de Valera
can be visited by
guided tour
.
The college was founded as an alternative to the Protestant hegemony of Trinity Col-
lege, which was the only option available to those seeking third-level education in Ireland.
Newman House is still part of the college, which later decamped to the suburb of Belfield
and changed its name to University College Dublin.
The house comprises two exquisitely restored townhouses; No 85, the granite-faced ori-
ginal, was designed by Richard Cassels in 1738 for parliamentarian Hugh Montgomery,
who sold it to Richard Chapel Whaley, MP, in 1765. Whaley wanted a grander home, so
he commissioned another house next door at No 86.
Aside from Cassels' wonderful design, the highlight of the building is the plasterwork,
perhaps the finest in the city. For No 85, the artists were the Italian stuccodores Paolo and
Filipo LaFranchini, whose work is best appreciated in the wonderfully detailed Apollo
Room on the ground floor. The plasterwork in No 86 was done by Robert West, but it is
not quite up to the high standard of next door.
When the newly founded, Jesuit-run Catholic University of Ireland took possession of
the house in 1865, alterations were made to some of the more graphic plasterwork, sup-
plying the nude figures with 'modesty vests'.
During Whaley's residency, the house developed certain notoriety, largely due to the
activities of his son, Buck, a notorious gambler and hell-raiser who once walked all the
way to Jerusalem for a bet and somehow connived to have himself elected to parliament at
the tender age of 17. During the university's tenure, however, the residents were a far
more temperate lot. The Jesuit priest and wonderful poet Gerard Manley Hopkins lived
here during his time as professor of classics, from 1884 until his death in 1889. Hopkins'
bedroom is preserved as it would have been during his residence, as is the classroom
where the young James Joyce studied while obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree
between 1899 and 1902.
NEWMAN UNIVERSITY CHURCH
CHURCH
( 01-478 0616;
www.universitychurch.ie
; 83 St Stephen's Green South; 8am-6pm; 10, 11, 13, 14 or 15A,
St Stephen's Green)
Cardinal Newman didn't care too much for the Gothic style of his day,
so the 1856 church attached to his Catholic University of Ireland at Newman House is a
neo-Byzantine charmer. Its richly decorated interior was mocked at first but has since be-
come the preferred surroundings for Dublin's most fashionable weddings.
LITTLE MUSEUM OF DUBLIN
MUSEUM
